Australia Day Muster

I love my new slide-on “Naked RV”.

The camper is still nude until Kylie and I can decide what graphics to use to personalize it. Wait for that!

Jim and Jeanette’s wonderful annual Australia Day Muster of family and friends was a great opportunity to put it through its paces.

I drove up into the hills through Fernvale and Esk and across the Perseverance Dam wall all through lovely scenic countryside up near to Crows Nest on the Darling Downs. Wow my Mazda BT-50 handles so much better than my old Matilda Crystal. I fairly zipped up and down the hills.

It was marvelous to share a few days of fun in the bush with friends old and new. There were hugs and greetings all around as I arrived and “Tiger” and Michael soon beckoned me into a lovely clearing to camp. They guided me up on to a wedge and plank to level up although I could have undone my chains and put my legs down and leveled up that way. (it sounds kinky but I mean on the camper not my own legs).

The property is a delight. A peaceful haven (until we all arrived!). There is the solar powered house and numerous little farm sheds and numbers of grassy clearings amongst the gum trees. One highlight was the alpine style deluxe outdoor dunny! It was complete with solar powered light and was rather glamorous considering its purpose. One should close the door though as I came close to sitting on Peters lap at 4am. What a surprise we both received!

First night was The Big Toad Race. Jim and Michael had been busy catching some likely culprits the previous night. They weren’t at all squeamish about man handling them, unlike the rest of us. There was much screaming and cheering and trying to motivate some of the toads who just climbed on top of each other. Some made a dash for it though and some escaped into the crowd causing much hilarity.

On Friday a few went for an excursion into Crows Nest, 10 minutes drive away. It is a lovely little old Australian style town.

 Most of the children and many of the adults walked through the damp bush and rock hopped through the creek crossing into the National Park to view the waterfall and gorge. Beautiful!

We all had to be back at camp to prepare our secret ingredients for the big Damper Bake Off!

The fire pits and camp ovens were well stoked by Andrew and Jim and others. Curls of smoke wafted up through the trees. Eager cooks settled their raw dough into the pots and hot coals were heaped onto the lids. The drizzly rain added to the olden day Australian bush atmosphere with the “real bushies” wearing Drizabone oilskin coats and Akubra hats, jeans and boots. It was comfortably cool up there.

The judging was a serious matter and Glenda walked proudly away with the trophy.

 We all ate up the dampers and washed them down with a few drinks and the atmosphere warmed still further. Names were drawn out for teams for the next days Big Match....the Redcoats versus the Convicts cricket game. Later that night Tiger produced his guitar and we sat beside a roaring fire and sang along to old favourite tunes.

Next morning our luck was in and the rain held off as we gathered on the green to ready for the match. Our captains geed us up to do our best. If we were over 9 yrs and under 90yrs we had to play or else produce a medical certificate to be excused. The lame could bat and have one of the children as designated runner.

What fun we all had. The Redcoats won on the day, the trophy was presented, photographs done and then the convicts lined up for the “big dummy spit”. Hilarious!

Some took a big run up followed by spitting the dummy, Chris approached like a shot put thrower. Aussie flags were placed to mark the landing spots and a winner was declared.

That night after delicious roast dinners were baked in camp ovens and eaten, we all gathered for a night of music singing and dancing to Tiger on guitar and banjo and Corey on guitar. They were fantastic.

What a friendly, fun, family time in the bush.

Thanks Jim and Jeannette and all.